Welding Tips and Tricks

Hello all! First post in the forums here. I plan on introducing myself in the intro forum soon when I have more time. But for right now, I am hoping to get a some pointers on whats going on with my welds and what I'm doing wrong.

I have been practicing my aluminum GTAW welding in the evenings at home after work. I have very little experience with it and even less confidence. The issue im having now (other than a lack of understanding) is about half of my beads are looking crystallized/reflective and I don't know why. Below is a picture of a bead I put down last night and you can see what im talking about. The right side looks way different than the more desirable left side and it is one continuous bead. What am I doing that causes this?!

I'm using 2% Lanthanated 3/32 electrode, 3/32 4043 filler wire on .120 aluminum which I think is also 4043 base metal. My Machine is a Miller 180 Syncrowave SD and it was set to about 130 amps but I didn't have the pedal floored. It was set to 6 on the AC Balance which i think means 60%?

Any constructive help or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Your material is not clean for starters. When doing an outside corner, both sides and the edge of the material need to be cleaned and wiped else you will draw contaminants into your puddle.

60% is pretty low if that’s the EN side. Bump up to 7 after you get the material cleaned and try again.

4043 filler will turn grainy once the material gets heat soaked, just the nature of the filler.

To add to what CJ wrote, for just learning Al TIG, cleaning issues aside (which is easy to correct) I think you're doing very good, don't get discouraged.

Like CJ said its really dirty, scrap the crap out of it with a stainless brush and make sure you wipe down your aluminum rod with acetone. i get that a lot during repairs of dirty aluminum. you're running hot

WeldingNerd wrote:The issue im having now (other than a lack of understanding) is about half of my beads are looking crystallized/reflective and I don't know why. Below is a picture of a bead I put down last night and you can see what im talking about. The right side looks way different than the more desirable left side and it is one continuous bead. What am I doing that causes this?!

So a bit of a direct answer to this particular question, since my earlier reply may not have offered you much insight.

The frequency your machine is set to has a great deal of effect on the area that gets cleaning action. Notice outside the bead? That frost liners the result of the frequency you choose, say 60Hz. If you dial the frequency higher, to say 150Hz then the edge gets tighter to the bead. Frequency also has an effect on the penetration to an extent.

Now, your beads show a cleaning action on half their bead length (or half the filler amount dipped) and that too is a result of both frequency, travel distance, and arc length. If you held a tight arc, then how far you travel the torch between dips will result in changes in the frost line within your bead. Make sense?

For test purposes, use some flat aluminum, lay a bead using 3/32 filler, but dip and travel much farther than you would normally. You only need maybe 6-10 dips to see the resulting change. Your bead looks almost like a lay wire or staccato dip. So, add more filler, slide farther, then dip. This will increase the bead length and reduce the rope-like bead you are getting. And it will stretch out the frost line within your bead.

Hope that helps-

WeldingNerd wrote:The issue im having now (other than a lack of understanding) is about half of my beads are looking crystallized/reflective and I don't know why. Below is a picture of a bead I put down last night and you can see what im talking about. The right side looks way different than the more desirable left side and it is one continuous bead. What am I doing that causes this?!

So a bit of a direct answer to this particular question, since my earlier reply may not have offered you much insight.

The frequency your machine is set to has a great deal of effect on the area that gets cleaning action. Notice outside the bead? That frost liners the result of the frequency you choose, say 60Hz. If you dial the frequency higher, to say 150Hz then the edge gets tighter to the bead. Frequency also has an effect on the penetration to an extent.

Now, your beads show a cleaning action on half their bead length (or half the filler amount dipped) and that too is a result of both frequency, travel distance, and arc length. If you held a tight arc, then how far you travel the torch between dips will result in changes in the frost line within your bead. Make sense?

For test purposes, use some flat aluminum, lay a bead using 3/32 filler, but dip and travel much farther than you would normally. You only need maybe 6-10 dips to see the resulting change. Your bead looks almost like a lay wire or staccato dip. So, add more filler, slide farther, then dip. This will increase the bead length and reduce the rope-like bead you are getting. And it will stretch out the frost line within your bead.

Hope that helps-

You can see by your frost line your ac balance is set more for penetration than cleaning. Put it at 7.

AC Balance will help with cleaning action, lower the cleaning more penetration higher less penetration and more cleaning. you started way too hot you can see some undercut at the start. you can see you didn't brush it, even being new you have to brush it.

AC Freq is basically for the width of the bead, since yours is fixed at 60hrz it is what it is! 60HRZ is a wide cone and say 200hrz is a thinner cone for intricate work. 120hrz is an all purpose setting. I knwo you cant change your freq but just wanted to add the info to the post. the only way you can change penetration aside form AC Balance is to have AC Amplitude settings, Like my HTP Invertig 221 and Dynasty i can change how long i stay in EN for to get more penetration or EP for more cleaning. again AC balance handles the Penetration or cleaning depending on what you need.

Cj spoke about freq and frost lines, i believe he was talking about AC Balance BECAUSE AC FREQ has nothing to do with cleaning action. at 60 hrz you are going to get a good ball at the end of your tungsten as well. You need to clean your metal really good and get a good cadence going when dipping your rod, the reason you have no ripples is because you are running to hot and too slow. you need to be at at least a dab a second.

CJ his Freq is fixed as its not inverter. Its fixed at 60HRZ so he has no adjustments on that unfortunately.

WeldingJunkie - I didnt do any cleaning prep other than a quick wipe down. Ill be picking up some stainless brushes today after work. I think the one I have is too dirty with other crap in it.

CJ - yes that makes perfect sense. I can see how I need to travel farther between dips. I feel like i get into a huge hurry to add filler, not sure why.

LtBadd - Thanks for the words of encouragement!

When I add filler when im dipping, should I be actually pushing wire into the puddle? Because the way im doing it now is, with my filler hand stationary, the amount of wire I add into the puddle is equal to the distance traveled between dips. Im not sure if that makes sense but basicly i dont think im pushing any wire at all. This doesnt seem correct and i dont want to get into any bad habbits.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

How you dip isn’t necessarily an issue, but how much you dip is. The trick with ally filler is that if your filler isn’t touching the puddle, it can ball up along the filler wire because it’s too far away from the puddle. I preferto touch the leading edge of the puddle, watch the puddle swell, then push the puddle forward until obtain the width and length I need. Jody has a video if I recall where he back steps and lifts his torch until the puddle sinks a bit, then moves forward. It all depends upon many factors: material thickness, joint type, position, preference, etc. No single method works for everyone in all conditions. That’s what makes in an art and a craft.

And no dispute, you’re on your way to that-

How you dip isn’t necessarily an issue, but how much you dip is. The trick with ally filler is that if your filler isn’t touching the puddle, it can ball up along the filler wire because it’s too far away from the puddle. I preferto touch the leading edge of the puddle, watch the puddle swell, then push the puddle forward until obtain the width and length I need. Jody has a video if I recall where he back steps and lifts his torch until the puddle sinks a bit, then moves forward. It all depends upon many factors: material thickness, joint type, position, preference, etc. No single method works for everyone in all conditions. That’s what makes in an art and a craft.

And no dispute, you’re on your way to that-